Automat

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

March Madness - Get your bracket here

Dear Friend,

March Madness is here.

Only this time it's not just a chance to follow your favorite team through the NCAA brackets -- it's time to fill out your first bracket of 2007 to decide which great Democrats the johnkerry.com community will rally behind this spring.

It's your chance to choose which candidates to support.

Please click the link below and vote for 2 Senators and 2 Representatives you want to advance to the final bracket.

Over the last two years, you mobilized to deliver over 14 million dollars to help win a Democratic House and Senate.

Now the Republicans are applying political heat on our Democratic majority -- it's an ugly version of Republican "March Madness" as they work overtime to damage our leaders who are fighting for your agenda.

Our Democratic majority must be sustained and a strong show of early fundraising is the best way to show that we stand by those who want to change the direction of our country.

The Republicans are targeting many great Democrats for tough re-election fights in 2008. So please vote to see which of these courageous candidates we will help this month. This early money can be an important signal to any potential challengers that these Democrats will fight and fight hard. Voting ends Sunday at midnight ET, so vote right away.

Please click the link below and vote for 2 U.S. Senators and 2 U.S. Representatives you want to see advance to the final bracket.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Quick note of thanks/Iraq Update

Hi there,

Here on the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, I just wanted to drop a quick note to all of you, updating you on the state of progress in the Iraq debate and legislation in the Senate.

Last week, I voted for legislation I brought to the floor with Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Biden and Sen. Levin, legislation that demands, once again, that we change course and set a deadline for the redeployment of our troops in Iraq.

You were there at the start, so I don't need to remind you that when Russ Feingold and I first introduced legislation to do exactly that, there were 13 of us in the Senate that voted for it. Now, in no small part because of all of your work pushing for change, nearly the entire Democratic caucus stood together in this important vote -- 48 Democrats strong.

I just wanted to thank you, all of you, for getting us this far. Your help (and courage because I know it isn't always easy to speak out) has shifted the debate a long way. We still have more fighting to do, of course; the legislation came up just short of passing. I'm an impatient person, but I've been in the Senate long enough to know that these things take time. That's the nature of legislating. And we can't stop until we finish this fight. I learned a long time ago that you support the troops by getting the policy right, and that's the only endgame here -- but progress is progress, and I want you to know and see what you've accomplished.

I'll let you know some of the ways you can help. But that's later; for now, I just wanted to send off this email to thank you for getting us this far. Together, we can do this.

John Kerry

P.S. I saw this article a while ago ... I hope it's as big a reminder for you as it is for me of why we must get this job done:

Thursday, March 15, 2007

How far does this go?

Dear automat,

This could be George Bush's Watergate.

Eight U.S. Attorneys, fired because they wouldn't follow orders by the Bush Administration.

Fired because they refused to go on witch-hunts against Democrats, or ignored the Republicans' blatant disregard for the law. Fired so that they could be replaced by talking heads and loyalists of the Bush Administration.

When Scooter Libby was convicted, I said that this administration reminded me of Richard Nixon's administration -- more obsessed with their critics than with the jobs the American people entrust them with. But this latest White House scandal takes that comparison to another level.

Just what did George Bush, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales and the rest of the Bush White House and Republican senior staff know about the Justice Department firings -- and when did they know it?

Join us in our effort to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to try to cut through the White House's nonsense -- the finger-pointing, the lies, the cover-up. Americans have a right to access any and all records between the Republican National Committee, other Republican party committees, and the Department of Justice in order to get to the bottom of this investigation.

When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales uttered those words yesterday, he admitted what many had suspected: that eight U.S. prosecutors were improperly fired -- and, because of a Patriot Act provision slipped in by Congressional Republicans, replaced with Bush Administration cronies. The fired attorneys included:

Carol Lam, who prosecuted former Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham for bribery, and who was actively investigating Republican House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis at the time of her dismissal;

Paul Charlton, who was investigating Republican Congressman Rick Renzi for bribery and illegal land dealings, and who had publicly clashed with the Bush Administration over the merits of the death penalty; and

David Iglesias, a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve and the basis for Tom Cruise's character in A Few Good Men, who was pressured by Republicans to indict Democratic politicians prior to the 2006 elections.

In January, Gonzales claimed that he would "never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation." Justice Department officials claimed the firings were part of standard personnel turnover.

But when questioned by Congress, Gonzales's deputy, Paul McNulty, claimed they were fired for poor performance -- even though most of the fired attorneys had received excellent performance reviews.

Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and President Bush himself were in contact with Gonzales's office about the attorneys. Just weeks after Bush spoke to Gonzales, they were fired.

Former Washington state GOP Chairman Chris Vance admitted to pressuring fired U.S. Attorney John McKay to investigate Democrats at the urging of the "White House's political office." And emails released yesterday show that White House deputy political director and former RNC opposition researcher J. Scott Jennings used an RNC email account to talk with Justice Department about the appointment of U.S. Attorney and former Karl Rove aide Tim Griffin.

These revelations raise even more questions -- and it's time for answers. Add your name to the FOIA Request, and demand accountability from the White House:

In an all-too-familiar scene, Gonzales's chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, resigned over the scandal. But we won't let Sampson be the fall guy for another Bush Administration cover-up.

Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, already took the fall for the Bush Administration's orchestrated leak of a CIA agent's identity. And incompetent FEMA Director and Bush buddy Michael Brown took the fall for our president's disgraceful reaction to Hurricane Katrina -- while the Gulf Coast remains in shambles.

Just like the Nixon Administration, cronyism and corruption has hollowed this White House from the inside-out.

It's time for Republicans to stop spinning such a tangled web of deceit to get what they want. Some Democratic Senators have already called for Alberto Gonzales's resignation. But this is part of a much bigger problem.

The purge of U.S. Attorneys wasn't a "mistake," as Alberto Gonzales claims. It was part of a long, calculated effort by the Bush Administration and the Republican Party to silence its critics and remain above the law.

Help us use this FOIA request to go beyond the lies and reveal the truth behind the White House, Justice Department, and Republican Party's corruption. The American people deserve nothing less:

Local Heroes

During the campaign and since then, we have talked to Americans from coast to coast about the environment and the critical challenge we all face in protecting the earth for future generations.

From those conversations the idea emerged that we should write a book, This Moment on Earth, which we hope will help spark a new conversation about ways that everyday Americans from all walks of life can have an impact on the environment around them.

The stories have inspired and moved us. Our hope is that they lead all of us to question the way things are, and look for small but significant ways that each of us can make a positive contribution to this new environmental movement.

Here's where you come in: We'd love to hear from you. Please take a moment and send us your stories about people you know -- even yourself -- who have found ways to make the world a greener place. They don't have to be famous and they don't even have to consider themselves environmentalists. They just need to be people with the imagination and courage to envision the world as a better place. We can't wait to read about their stories and we look forward to hearing from you.

It was 1970 when the first Earth Day was held. Over the more than thirty-five years since, it's become a day when we recommit ourselves to the environment and look for ways to broaden the movement. In our own ways we've both dedicated ourselves to this issue -- from efforts to fight acid rain, to joining in hearings on global warming, to helping to bring green building efforts in Pittsburgh and elsewhere to the forefront. We feel passionately about this issue and hope that this book sparks a new national dialogue about our planet and the steps we must take if we are to preserve it for future generations.